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The bicentennial of the Gymnasium Museum (which existed as an independent institution in 1814–1939) calls for an analysis on the topic of science and museums in the modern era. Sources of information include library catalogues and infrequent reports about collections, which were mostly destroyed by 1945. The paper focuses on a selection of examples of scientific activities (particularly geology, palaeontology, and the social sciences) which were developed in relation to the Gymnasium Museum in the region of Czech Silesia. Unlike the Joanneum in Graz or the Brno museum, in which history held the dominant position, Opava was the backdrop for the thriving of natural sciences, particularly geognosy; i.e. geology, entomology, and botany. Since the collections are no longer intact, the intellectual settings have been reconstructed from the layout of the library. The same library also reveals value preferences in the domain of social sciences.

The text is conceived as a critical commentary to the monography and catalogue of the work of the painter and graphic artist, Helena Salichová (1895–1975). It is an attempt at revision of the approach to the work, based not on the projection of career and objective facts about the artistic creation, but on grounds of application of general theoretical principals applied in the work that is based on the complex visual strategy (within its frame it concerns the aspects of style and stylistic mode, artistry, self-representation and expectation of the audience, paradigm value and artistic tradition versus innovation, nonclassical monumentality, creative undogmatical attitude towards folk culture etc.)